Welsh Language Standards Annual Monitoring Report - 2024-2025
Overview
This report has been prepared in accordance with Standard 152 to demonstrate our compliance with the Welsh Language Standards during the financial year 2024-25. The Welsh Language Standards were created in line with the Welsh Language Measure (2011). These standards are regulated by the Welsh Language Commissioner. The Electoral Commission has a statutory duty comply with these standards. This report provides us with a valuable opportunity to demonstrate our institutional commitment to the Welsh language, and its importance to our work in Wales.
The Welsh Language Standards relate to the entire Electoral Commission, and it is the responsibility of each team within it to ensure compliance, with the support and input of colleagues at the Electoral Commission office in Wales and other relevant support services.
Service delivery standards, policy making, and implementation
During the 2024-25 financial year, a total of 15 members of staff were based at the Electoral Commission office in Wales,12 posts were part of the Wales team and three posts from other teams within the Commission. As of 1st March 2025 our total number of staff working across the UK exclusive of agency was 224, the current total is now 240.
An audit of the Welsh language ability of all staff working for the Electoral Commission in the Wales office was undertaken during March 2025 using the recognised Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Staff members were asked to assess their own level.
Levels range from Basic user (A1, A2) independent user (B1, B2) and proficient user (C1, C2) in five categories (listening, reading, spoken interaction, spoken production and writing).
| Listening | Reading | Spoken insteraction | Spoken production | Writing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| A2 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| B1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| B2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| C1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| C2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
All relevant staff in Wales can greet others in Welsh and will do so when answering all telephone calls. They also refer stakeholders or members of the public to our Welsh speaking staff and services if required.
Staff in Wales can attend Welsh lessons with the support of the organisation and are encouraged to improve their Welsh language skills.
No members of staff requested internal courses to be delivered in Welsh during the past year. However, in accordance with Standard 124, staff are aware that training courses offered in-house are available through the medium of Welsh, if so desired.
During the current financial year, we are in the process of creating a new Learning Management System. This system will allow staff to take online training modules which will be available in both English and Welsh by using a toggle function.
In the past financial year, we advertised the following posts:
- Public Information Officer
- Welsh Translator
- Welsh Language Support Officer
All three positions were advertised externally and bilingually. It was noted in the job specification that Welsh language skills were essential for all three roles.
We have implemented measures to ensure that members of the public can submit a complaint in Welsh and then receive a response in Welsh.
This section addresses complaints in relation to issues of service provision, policy making, and implementation. This includes any complaints made directly to any of the Electoral Commission’s offices in the UK.
We have implemented measures to ensure that members of the public can submit a complaint in Welsh and then receive a response in Welsh.
During the reporting period a complaint was made to the Welsh Language Commissioner about a failure by the Electoral Commission to comply with Welsh language standards. The complaint received related to a questionnaire sent to officers who had worked at polling stations. The complaint related to Standard 46B, which states:
Standard 46B
If you produce a form in Welsh and in English (whether separate versions or not), you must ensure that the Welsh language version is treated no less favourably than the English language version, and you must not differentiate between the Welsh and English versions in relation to any requirements that are relevant to the form (for example in relation to any deadline for submitting the form, or in relation to the time allowed to respond to the content of the form).
The complaint was found to be valid by the Welsh Language Commissioner and met the requirements of section 93 of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011.
The matter was dealt with promptly by the Electoral Commission, ensuring the survey had been corrected and additional time had been given to complete it. Additional quality assurance measures were introduced to our survey processes to avoid similar issues in the future. As a result of this the Welsh Language Commissioner decided not to conduct a further investigation.
We have measures in place to ensure that all our correspondence with stakeholders in Wales is sent bilingually. In addition, measures are in place to ensure that any correspondence we receive in Welsh receives a reply in Welsh. We continue to review and strengthen our process to ensure these standards are kept.
Measures are also in place to ensure that all members of the public who contact us by email or telephone can do so in Welsh, and that doing so will not delay any response. If a member of the public calls us and wishes to use the Welsh language, they can do so. If no Welsh speaker is available at that time, they will be given the option of a call-back as soon as a Welsh speaker is available.
We have a Welsh language telephone service that transfers directly to a Welsh speaking member of staff. With up to seven fluent Welsh speakers working at any one time in the Wales team during the 2024-25 financial year, it ensured that there were no delays when answering Welsh language calls.
In the period leading up to the Police and Crime Commissioner elections (held in May 2024) a bilingual public information officer was appointed to ensure that a dedicated member of staff was available to answer enquiries in Welsh and English. An additional bilingual public information officer was recruited for the period leading up to the UK Parliament General Election (held in July 2024).
All publicity and advertising material in Wales, or material containing information relevant to Wales, is produced bilingually.
When we arrange for external partners to attend meetings, measures are in place to ensure that these partners receive a Welsh language service, if they so wish. Simultaneous translation is available for stakeholders who wish to contribute in Welsh at virtual meetings when the terms of reference of the meeting state that it will be conducted in Welsh and English. We also provide simultaneous translation at any in-person events where stakeholders are invited.
All messaging relating to or affecting Wales are published on our bilingual X (Twitter) account (@ElectoralWales) which is managed by staff at the Electoral Commission in Wales. Information specifically intended for Wales is produced and shared by this account. Tweets are created bilingually, either within a single tweet, or through a separate tweet that is shared at the same time.
If anyone contacts us in Welsh through our social media, there are measures in place to ensure that they receive a reply in Welsh, and that this does not delay a reply.
In the current financial year will be exploring other social media platforms and how we can ensure that the content that we share is bilingual.
All guidance and content relevant to Wales is produced bilingually, and we publish the Welsh and English versions at the same time. Where there are updates, Welsh versions will be updated and published with the English versions. Our Welsh language translators have direct access and editing rights on our website so that guidance can be updated seamlessly.
During the 2024-25 financial year we increased our Welsh language resource by making two current roles permanent and creating an additional role within our Welsh language team to mitigate this risk.
Leading up to both elections that were held in the reporting period, all relevant guidance on our website was checked and proofed by our Welsh language team as an additional quality assurance measure.
Where Welsh language provision is available, it is proactively promoted, and the option for Welsh language content is clearly shown on equivalent English language content.
All human resources policies have been translated and are all available bilingually.
During the 2024-25 financial year a new internal human resources system was launched, this new system is available in Welsh and English.
We also have a new recruitment portal to recruit and appoint new staff. Job descriptions and specifications advertised in Wales that are posted on the portal are available in both Welsh and English. However, although the system can facilitate two languages; we are currently working towards correcting a fault to ensure that the portal itself is available in Welsh.
When applicants are offered an interview for a Wales team-based role they can choose to interview in Welsh or English with the assistance of simultaneous translation. This was implemented for all posts advertised for the Wales team during the reporting period.
Information relating to any grants or tenders in Wales is published and promoted bilingually.
Electoral Commission events in Wales are advertised and promoted in Welsh and English, and Welsh language provision is available. In addition, information relating to these events, such as leaflets and signs are bilingual.
Policy making standards are included in our document 'Equality Impact Assessments'. This document is available to all staff via our intranet. The impact of any new policy on the Welsh language will be measured through the Equality Impact Assessment procedure.
During the financial year 2024-25 we made our Welsh Translator and Welsh Language Support Officer roles permanent roles as well as creating an additional Welsh Translator role. This means we now have 5 full time permanent members of staff dedicated to our Welsh language provision which are as follows.
• Senior Welsh Language Advisor
• Welsh Language Support Officer
• Welsh Translator x 3
This financial year we awarded and finalised a contract to an external translation company, Bla Translations Ltd as an additional resource to be used during busy periods. This mitigates the risk of material not being published bilingually due to increased volume of work. We have a dedicated translation budget for this purpose.
This year, was the first full year of using our new translation request system on our intranet. This enabled us to improve and streamline our translation process and allowed us to record our translation data. Following on from a review held during the previous financial year we continue to review and discuss our translation processes and adapt to cater to the needs of each team within the Electoral Commission.
During the 2024-25 period we held 4 in person awareness sessions at our London office and 1 in person awareness session at our Cardiff office with over 85% of the Wales office staff in attendance.
The sessions focused on;
- The history of the Welsh language
- The Welsh language and culture today
- The Welsh Language Standards (What they are, why they exist and how they affect our work).
These sessions have continued in the 2025-26 financial year and we will explore how we can expand on Welsh language awareness within the Commission.